In case you missed it, here’s what happened on We Know Next this week.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) heard testimony May 10, 2012, on the challenges to work and family life for people lacking employer paid leave and other workplace flexibility options. Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) member Juanita Phillips, HR director at Intuitive Research and Technology Corp., was among four panelists appearing before the committee that Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairs.
The SHRM Survey, Workplace Flexibility for Select Populations, explores workplace flexibility for select populations: disabled workers, veterans, low-wage hourly workers, and parents with dependent care responsibilities. Some organizations have created flexible work arrangements, such as telecommuting/working from home, traditional flextime, and reduced work hours, to accommodate these populations.
Shaken by the realities of the Great Recession, American workers have adjusted their visions of retirement, according to the 13th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey released in May 2012 by the nonprofit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. And most said they would switch jobs for a better retirement plan.
Microsoft Corp.'s pay-for-performance philosophy recognizes that top performers provide the highest value to the firm—and that they have the greatest opportunities in the external job market. With that in mind, Microsoft has redesigned its performance management system and total rewards program, integrating the two systems in a way that allows for simplified, transparent and differentiated rewards, explained J. Ritchie, the firm's corporate vice president for compensation, benefits and performance management, and Julie Tschida Brown, Microsoft's director of global compensation programs, during their presentation at the 2012 WorldatWork Total Rewards Conference, held here May 21-23, 2012.
An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recommendation in its recent guidance on criminal background checks to not ask about convictions in employment applications as a best practice is bad advice, according to Don Livingston, an attorney with Akin Gump in Washington, D.C., and a former EEOC general counsel.
A recent survey of American workers suggests that employers are becoming more flexible and accommodating to their employees’ schedules during the summer.
Job creation will continue in the manufacturing and services sectors in June 2012, but for the fifth time in the past six months the rate of growth will fall behind that of the previous year in both sectors, according to the latest Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey.
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